Hundreds protest cuts to substance use disorder services

We're so grateful for your support at yesterday's #300LOST event. It's impossible to organize an event like yesterday without a strong community of people who care about each other. We tapped into something that is much, much bigger than any one organization and hope to carry this momentum into the Senate budget stage.

It was awe-inspiring. People came out at 8:30 in the morning, when it was probably 35 degrees, and laid down on the ground of the State House to send the message that we've had enough.

As lawmakers entered the New Hampshire State House to vote on a budget that slashed funding for substance use disorder services, they had to walk through a labyrinth of almost 500 demonstrators in the State House plaza. The 300 New Hampshire citizens lost to substance misuse in 2014 were present through family and friends who refused to let lawmakers ignore this issue. The stark visual illustrated a very real consequence to budgetary actions, and was heard loud and clear across the state as a top news story.

Although the House passed a version of the budget that slashed funding for substance use disorder services, your efforts yesterday magnified substance misuse as a public health and safety priority as the budget moves to the Senate.

And we aren't done.

Moving forward, our community engagement director Sarah Sadowski will work to connect you with your Senators and provide information/data to strengthen your efforts. If you're fired up about the cuts, we highly suggest drafting a 250-word letter to the editor and e-mailing it to Joe Gallagher at jgallagher@new-futures.org for guidance on the timing of your submission.